A Cross Border fee for credit card processing is a pass through monthly cost that allows you to process international credit cards from your local currency. It’s almost always the most expensive fee and should be avoided if and when possible. If you use Stripe, we’ve made this simple guide to help you avoid it:
What is a cross border fee for credit card processing?
Most processors add a cross border fee to your bill on top of the 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction cost that you’re already being charged. Because Stripe doesn’t have any branches or offices in other countries, we don’t need to charge this extra fee and instead base our rates on the foreign exchange rate from credit card associations.
What is a cross border fee for credit card processing used for?
This fee is mostly used to pay for your merchant account’s statement in the currency you’re being charged in. For example, most companies with operations in Canada will have their fees applied in Canadian dollars and expect their processor to pay for their merchant account statement in Canadian dollars.
Why should I avoid a cross border fee for credit card processing?
When you accept money from customers around the world, it gets converted to your home currency through your payment processor. You pay them back for this transaction at an exchange rate that’s higher than the actual market value, which can be anywhere from 2–5%.
You don’t need to pay this fee with Stripe. You only pay one rate that is determined by the foreign exchange rate on the day of processing. If you’re accepting money in multiple currencies, you may wish to consider our Multi-Currency support for more information.
How do I avoid a cross border fee for credit card processing?
If you’re only accepting money in one currency, you can use our Hosted Pages product to accept your payments without the extra cost of the Cross Border Fee. This is considered ‘no markup’ pricing, so there are no surprises with your bill. If you switch to Stripe, we will support you during your transition to help ensure that there are no hiccups with your payments.
If you’re accepting money in multiple currencies, Multi-Currency support provides additional clarity on how Stripe calculates your rates and what they mean for you. We also offer volume based discounts so the more volume you process through Stripe, the more you can save.
If you’re not in a rush to switch processors, check out our guide on how best to transfer your business to Stripe for more information. We also have an API reference that covers all of the functions available in our API that may help you transition to Stripe without needing to take time away from growing your business.
